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The principal feature in the traditions about Hermes consists in his being the herald of the Gods and Goddesses ... As the herald of the Gods and Goddesses, he is the God of skill in the use of speech and of eloquence in general, for the heralds are the public speakers in the assemblies and on other occasions. (Il. i. 333, iv. 193, vii. 279, 385, viii. 517, xi. 684; comp. Orph. Hymn. 27. 4; Aelian, H. A. x. 29; Hor.Carm. i. 10. 1.) As an adroit speaker, he was especially employed as messenger, when eloquence was required to attain the desired object. (Od. i. 38, Il. xxiv. 390; Hom.Hymn. in Cer. 335.) Hence the tongues of sacrificial animals were offered to him. (Aristoph. Pax, 1062; Athen. i. p. 16.) As heralds and messengers are usually men of prudence and circumspection,Hermes was also the God of prudence and skill in all the relations of social intercourse. (Il. xx. 35, xxiv. 282, Od.ii. 38.) These qualities were combined with similar ones, such as cunning both in words and actions, and even fraud, perjury, and the inclination to steal; but acts of this kind were committed by Hermes always with a certain skill, dexterity, and even gracefulness. Examples occur in the Homeric hymn on Hermes (66, 260, 383; comp. Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1337; Hom. Il. v. 390, xxiv. 24; Apollod. i. 6. § 3).Being endowed with this shrewdness and sagacity, he was regarded as the author of a variety of inventions, and, besides the lyre and syrinx, he is said to have invented the alphabet, numbers, astronomy, music, the art of fighting, gymnastics, the cultivation of the olive tree, measures, weights, and many other things. (Plut.Sympos. ix. 3; Diod. l.c. and v. 75; Hygin. Fab. 277.) The powers which he possessed himself he conferred upon those mortals and heroes who enjoyed his favour...Another important function of Hermes was to conduct the souls of the dead from the upper into the lower world, whence he is called psuchopompos, nekropomtos, psuchagôgos, &c. (Hom. Od. xxiv. 1, 9, Hymn. in Cer. 379, &c.; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 561; Diog. Laërt. viii. 31; Hygin. Fab. 251.)The idea of his being the herald and messenger of the Gods and Goddesses, of his travelling from place to place and concluding treaties, necessarily implied the notion that he was the promoter of social intercourse and of commerce among people, and that he was friendly towards humans. (Od. xix. 135, Il. xxiv. 333.) In this capacity he was regarded as the maintainer of peace, and as the God of roads, who protected travellers, and punished those who refused to assist travellers who had mistaken their way. (Il. vii. 277, &c.; Theocrit. xxv. 5; Aristoph. Plut. 1159.) Hence the Athenian generals, on setting out on an expedition, offered sacrifices to Hermes, surnamed Hegemonius, or Agetor; and numerous statues of the God were erected on roads, at doors and gates, from which circumstance he derived a variety of surnames and epithets...Another important function of Hermes was his being the patron of all the gymnastic games of the Greeks.

Hermes is said to have provided an escape for Phrixos and Helle on the ram with the golden fleece (from Theoi.com):

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 80 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :"The oracle prophesied an end to the dearth if Phrixos were to be sacrificed to Zeus. When Athamas heard this and was pressured by the joint efforts of the inhabitants, he had Phrixos placed on the altar. But Nephele seized both him and her daughter, and gave them a golden-fleeced ram which she had received from Hermes, by which they were borne through the sky over and across the land and the sea."

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 2. 1141 ff : "[Argos addresses his fellow Argonauts :] `An Aeolid called Phrixos came to Aea from Hellas. He reached Aeetes’ city on the back of a ram which Hermes had turned into gold - you can still see its fleece, spread on the leafy branches of an oak."